Two years. That's about how long it took Grupo Frontera to go from a local Edinburg act to trading songs with Bad Bunny. This six-piece formed right here in Edinburg back in 2022, taking the old norteno cumbia — the melodies and themes their grandparents danced to — and giving it a modern shine. And the world came calling fast: Bad Bunny, Shakira, Maluma, all in the mix. Down here they're already part of the furniture, their music rolling out over the speakers at the MXLAN festival up in McAllen. Some call them a viral sensation, and maybe that's the easy word for it. But viral fades. What Grupo Frontera did was take a Rio Grande Valley sound and carry it onto the biggest stages there are.

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History of Edinburg

Edinburg, TX RoadyGoat

In the early 20th century, a group of developers including John Closner and Dennis B. Chapin began to build a new community at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 281 and State Highway 107. They named the town 'Chapin' in honor of Chapin. But after Chapin was involved in a shooting, the town changed its name to 'Edinburg' to honor John Young, a prominent businessman born in Edinburgh, Scotland. The town was officially renamed in 1911 and incorporated in 1919. In the 1920s, Edinburg was dubbed 'Gateway to the Valley' to attract tourists. More recently, in 2013, the city council voted to annex about 2,000 acres, significantly expanding the city limits.

Edinburg, TX RoadyGoat

In 1908, a group of developers including John Closner, William Briggs, Argyle McAllen, Plutarco de la Viña, and Dennis B. Chapin began to develop a new community at the current crossroads of U.S. Highway 281 and State Highway 107. They named the town 'Chapin' after one of the developers. However, after Chapin was involved in a shooting, the town changed its name to 'Edinburg' in 1911 to honor John Young, a prominent businessman born in Edinburgh, Scotland. The town was officially incorporated in 1919.

Edinburg, TX RoadyGoat

The city's name, Edinburg, has a fascinating origin. Initially named 'Chapin' in honor of one of its developers, Dennis Chapin, the town underwent a name change following a tragic event. After Chapin was involved in a shooting death, the community decided to rename the town to 'Edinburg' in honor of John Young, a prominent businessman who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. The official renaming took place in 1911, and the town was incorporated in 1919.

Padre Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla

1810

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811), for whom the county of Hidalgo is named, was born near Guanajuato, Mexico, while the country was still under Spanish rule. After being ordained a priest in 1779, he served churches in Colima, San Felipe, and Dolores, where he emerged as a champion of human rights who feared the colonial system would never allow independence and justice for all citizens. A firm believer in economic independence from the mother country, Hidalgo worked toward that goal by teaching farming methods and industrial techniques to Indians and others in his parish. In 1810 Padre Hidalgo, along with military leader Ignacio de Allende, conspired to overthrow the Royalist government. Warned that officials suspected their plot, Hidlago gathered sympathizers in Dolores. Following early mass on the morning of September 16, 1810, Hidalgo made his famous "Grito De Dolores," a call to arms which in effect began the revolt that led to Mexican independence from Spain in 1821. During a battle on the Bridge of Calderon, Padre Hidalgo was captured and later was unfrocked and shot. Considered "The Father of Mexican Independence," Padre Hidalgo continues to be honored for his leadership throughout Mexico and the Southwest. (1983)

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El Sal Del Rey, C. S. A.

1862

Front side: Large salt lake located 26 miles northeast was principal source of salt in South Texas during the Civil War. Put under state guard and agent 1862. Salt sold to families, Texas Military Board, Army of Confederacy and wagons returning north on cotton road-vital trade route for South thru Mexico. Due to military and domestic importance, Union forces periodically wrecked the salt works from November 1863 until war's end. It was also a Texas Confederate base for the 1864 recapture of Brownsville. A memorial to Texas who served the Confederacy; erected by the State of Texas 1963. Back side: Salting or smoking were only was to preserve meat at time of Civil War. When South levied a meat tithe, salt necessary to cure bacon and beef for military. Salt was a must for horses and mules used by cavalry, artillery and supply wagons. Hides were preserved with it to make leather for shoes and harness. Other wartime salt works were operated along coast and in 7 counties in central, east and west Texas. El Sal del Rey, Spanish for "Salt for the King" also played a significant role in the history of Texas mineral law. A legal controversy raged for years over its ownership. Under Spain, mineral rights belonged to crown. Mexico retained the principle of the state ownership of minerals. Texas, as Republic and State, kept minerals in the public domain. Private possession of the lake began with the 1866 Texas Constitutional Convention which relinquished all minerals to landowners. The principle of private ownership was readopted in the Constitutions of 1869 and 1876.

Historical Marker →

Restlawn Cemetery

1928

This property is believed to be the only graveyard in Hidalgo County dedicated for African American burials. Prior to its founding in 1928, blacks were allowed burial space only in private ranch cemeteries. In the 1920s, Edinburg had a growing black community of domestic and agricultural workers and entrepreneurs. A.Y. Baker, county sheriff and director of the Hillcrest Cemetery Association, designated a half-acre in the undeveloped northwest corner of Hillcrest for a "Black Cemetery," which was renamed Restlawn in 1993. The oldest grave, unmarked, is for Leonard Bass (d. 1928). World War II veteran Jacob White (d. 1945), for whom local American Legion Post 884 was named, is also among those interred here. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004

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Cano, Pedro

1944

Pedro Cano, World War II veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, was born in General Terán, Nuevo León, Mexico, on July 7, 1920. His mother, Nicolasa González Cano, and father, Secundio Cano, settled in Edinburg, Texas, when Pedro was an infant. Because his educational opportunities and knowledge of English were limited, Cano worked in agricultural jobs throughout the Rio Grande Valley until he was drafted into the United States Army in 1943. He was deployed to Europe as a private with Company C, Eighth Infantry Regiment, Fourth Infantry Division. On December 2, 1944, while participating in the battle of Hürtgen Forest, Private Cano's unit launched an attack on German machine-gun emplacements at Schevenhütte, Germany. With his unit pinned down, Cano advanced alone through a densely-mined area to within ten yards of the enemy and successfully fired a rocket into the emplacement and killed seven enemy soldiers. He then moved to another emplacement and used rifle fire and grenades to kill two more machine gunners and disperse several others. When an adjacent company came under heavy enemy fire, Cano crossed the front and crawled to within fifteen yards of the enemy and killed another four enemy soldiers and dispatched two machine-gun nests. Over the course of two days, Private Cano repeatedly moved across the front lines to aid other immobilized units and eventually destroyed a total of six machine-gun emplacements and dispatched approximately thirty German soldiers. Several days later while on patrol, Cano's platoon was surprised by German soldiers. Despite sustaining injuries that would leave him permanently disabled, Cano lay silent and motionless until the German soldiers moved within range. He then tossed a grenade at the enemy and killed or wounded all of them. Following the war, Cano was sent to a veteran's hospital in Waco, Texas, until his release in the spring of 1945. For his service, Private Cano received a Purple Heart, two Silver Stars, and the Distinguished Service Cross. On April 26, 1946, at a ceremony awarding Cano the Distinguished Service Cross, Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright thanked him for his service and suggested that he was deserving of the nation's highest honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor. In May 1946 Pedro Cano realized two of his dreams: he became a naturalized American citizen and bought a small farm near Edinburg, Texas. He died on June 24, 1952, as a result of a head-on automobile collision in Pharr, Texas. Pedro Cano was survived by his wife, Herminia Garza Cano, and his three children-daughters Dominga and Maria and son Susano. Cano was buried with military honors at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Edinburg, Texas, where a street and elementary school now bear his name. In 2009 the Texas state legislature declared April 26 to be "Pedro Cano Day" and posthumously awarded him the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor. In 2014 following a United States Department of Defense review of Jewish and Hispanic soldiers who might have been passed over for recognition, Pedro Cano was posthumously given the nation's highest award, the Congressional Medal of Honor, for his acts of gallantry and intrepidity.

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Closner, John

1883

John Closner, Hidalgo County developer, the son of Swiss parents John and Elizabeth (Blumer) Closner, was born on March 24, 1853, in New Glaris, Wisconsin. The family moved to Minnesota and Iowa before moving to Texas in 1870 and settling in Bosque County. Closner began hauling freight to Fort Griffin in 1871, worked for railroad construction and streetcar companies in Oklahoma and Galveston, and spent 1876 to 1882 working on the extension of Jay Gould 's International-Great Northern Railroad in Mexico, where he contracted erysipelas, an infectious skin disease that continued to affect him for many years. Left in financial distress when the railroad failed, Closner moved to Rio Grande City in 1883 with only fifteen dollars and became a stage driver to Peña Station . He later obtained the mail contract between Brownsville and Rio Grande City. In 1884 he moved to Hidalgo, then the Hidalgo county seat, bought a tract of land, and was appointed deputy sheriff by James L. Dougherty. Closner served as sheriff until 1889 and became tax collector; he became deputy United States marshall for a time and remained in these positions until his retirement as Hidalgo County Treasurer in 1919, when an audit of the county record office revealed that many records were missing. Some sources suggest that Closner may have been implicated. He and stock-raiser W. F. Sprague were involved in bankruptcy hearings from 1917 until July 4, 1919, facing creditors' claims of nearly $2 million. At a time when banditry and cattle rustling were rife, Closner's tenure was marked by waves of border violence growing out of the Garza War and the 1910 revolution by Francisco I. Madero against the Mexican government of Porfirio Díaz. Closner survived several attempts on his life, including an 1899 assassination attempt by Pancho Garza, plotted by the Dougherty brothers, whom he had helped indict for stealing horses and, according to some accounts, for an effort to kill local officials and burn the town. As one of the Rio Grande valley's largest landowners, Closner contributed most by promoting irrigation and diversified farming. He bought land at twenty-five cents to one dollar an acre and managed to acquire 45,000 acres by 1904. He constructed a canal system in 1895 to carry water from the Rio Grande to his alfalfa, banana, cotton, tobacco, and other crops and experimented successfully with growing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. His sugarcane won a gold medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904. Through his influence and a gift of 2,000 acres in 1904, Closner, with the help of Leonidas C. Hill, Sr. , Tom Hicks, and others, obtained the extension of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway from Harlingen to Samfordyce. In 1906, with William Sprague, he built a branch line of the railroad from San Juan Plantation , named for him by his wife, to the site of Chapin, which in 1908 he developed with Sprague and Judge Dennis Bangs Chapin. Closner and Sprague donated 1,400 acres to the development, which was renamed Edinburg in 1911, and arranged for an election on October 8, 1908, to make the town the county seat. To prevent resistance by those who objected, tents were set up to receive the county records, and men with wagons and mule teams made the move overnight. In 1907 Closner, William Briggs, and O. E. M. Jones were instrumental in founding East McAllen, today known as McAllen. Closner gave Edinburg its first public school, served for years as president of the Edinburg State Bank and director of other Valley banks, and encouraged development of Edinburg's irrigation system. In 1902 he started a private telephone system, which later developed into the Hidalgo Telephone Company. He married Ida Louise Cook at Galveston on August 19, 1876. In 1888 Closner was married for a second time, this time to Ann Sheridan Dougherty of Brownsville, with whom he had three children. After this wife died in 1903, he married Alice Dougherty, sister o

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De La Viña, Gustavo

1970

Gustavo “Gus” de la Viña (Vina) was the first Mexican American to serve as chief of the United States Border Patrol . He worked to restrain the flow of illegal immigration into the U.S., initiated a proactive strategy in border protection, and worked to secure the safety of would-be undocumented immigrants. De la Viña was born on June 24, 1939, in Edinburg, Texas. His father died when he was just an infant, leaving his mother, a schoolteacher, to raise Gus and his brother Frank. Gus graduated from Edinburg High School in 1958 and in 1963 graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from what became the University of Texas Pan American (presently part of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley). He worked for some time as an elementary school gym teacher but later joined the U. S. Border Patrol in 1970. He was assigned to the Eagle Pass, Texas, port of entry. Through the years De la Viña occupied several supervisory positions at border patrol academies and ascended the ranks to deputy El Paso sector chief from 1984 to 1990. At a time when the San Diego sector was considered the busiest in the nation, De la Viña served for four years as chief patrol agent. While working in San Diego, De la Viña implemented Operation Gatekeeper. The program began in the early 1990s, and it consisted of adding infrastructure such as improved border fencing and enhanced technology (including stadium-style lighting and automated processing of detainees). The operation also significantly increased the number of agents along the border. The border patrol launched the operation in San Diego, then in El Paso, and finally along the entire Mexican border. Although the federal government deemed the operation successful, others criticized the human costs of its success. The new strategy diverted human trafficking to mountainous and arid regions to the east of San Diego, which proved more difficult for immigrants and resulted in more deaths. After his work in San Diego, in 1995 De la Viña became Western regional director for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which at the time was the border patrol's parent agency. Finally in 1997 De la Viña became chief of the border patrol; he was the first Mexican American to hold the position. Under his care, the border patrol was responsible for patrolling the Mexican and Canadian land borders and the coastal waters surrounding the Florida Peninsula and Puerto Rico. With maritime jurisdiction in U.S. ports, harbors, vessels, and waterfront facilities, the United States Coast Guard collaborated with the border patrol to help deter illegal immigration in the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic, and the Pacific coasts. In 1998, a year after assuming his post as border patrol chief, De la Viña created the Border Safety Initiative. The initiative was meant to warn unauthorized immigrants of the perils of border crossings and included the use of public service announcements on both sides of the border. It also consisted of proactive searches for immigrants that were abandoned and suffering in deserts and other potentially deadly environments. Shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001, De la Viña volunteered to send border patrol agents to provide additional visible security at many airports. He also oversaw the transition of the border patrol from the Department of Justice to the Customs and Border Protection Agency within the Department of Homeland Security. He remained chief of the border patrol until his retirement in 2004. After retiring from the border patrol, De la Viña became an adviser to the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program within the Department of Justice. While on assignment in Bosnia-Herzegovina, “Chief” De la Viña died of natural causes on October 26, 2009. He was survived by his wife Donna O. de la Viña of Mesa, Arizona, and four children from a previous marriage—Gustavo Jr., Dina, Monica, and Monette. He was buried in Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Mesa, Arizona. During his li

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Things to Do in Edinburg

spooky 8.0 mi away

La Lechuza

In the Rio Grande Valley a giant owl-witch called La Lechuza hunts at night. She is said to be the ghost of a mother whose children were killed by a drunk…

historical 14.5 mi away

Weslaco, Texas (c. 1939, Russell Lee)

quirky 14.8 mi away

World's Largest Killer Bee

A 2000-pound steel-and-fiberglass killer bee statue stands outside Hidalgo City Hall. It commemorates the first U.S. arrival of Africanized honey bees near the…

Everything Near Edinburg

369 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Grupo Frontera
Two years. That's about how long it took Grupo Frontera to go from a local Edinburg act to trading songs with Bad Bunny. This six-piece formed right here in Edinburg back in 2022, taking the old norteno cumbia — the…
Edinburg, TX
In the early 20th century, a group of developers including John Closner and Dennis B. Chapin began to build a new community at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 281 and State Highway 107. They named the town 'Chapin' in…
Edinburg, TX
The city's name, Edinburg, has a fascinating origin. Initially named 'Chapin' in honor of one of its developers, Dennis Chapin, the town underwent a name change following a tragic event. After Chapin was involved in a…
W. L. Lipscomb · Historical Marker
You're driving through Edinburg, and right here is the site of a building that housed one of the city's very first general stores. It was established by William Lawton Lipscomb, who came to Texas in the 1880s and…
Padre Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811), for whom the county of Hidalgo is named, was born near Guanajuato, Mexico, while the country was still under Spanish rule. After being ordained a priest in 1779, he served churches…
El Sal Del Rey, C. S. A. · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
Front side: Large salt lake located 26 miles northeast was principal source of salt in South Texas during the Civil War. Put under state guard and agent 1862. Salt sold to families, Texas Military Board, Army of…
Hidalgo County · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hidalgo County, Texas. This place was carved out of Starr and Cameron counties way back on January 24, 1842. It’s named for Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a key figure in Mexico's fight for…
Hidalgo County Jail, Old · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Old Hidalgo County Jail in Edinburg, a building that's seen more than just prisoners. Built between 1909 and 1910, it was one of the first structures in town after the county seat moved here.…
Everitt Building · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Everitt Building in Edinburg, a landmark that's been part of the city's economic history since 1910. <break time="400ms"/> It was built by John Closner, one of the town's founders. <break…
Southern Pacific Depot · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Edinburg, and right here is the former Southern Pacific Depot, completed back in 1927. Designed by railroad architect Leonard B. McCoy, this beautiful Spanish Colonial Revival building was the…
Edinburg Junior College Auditorium · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Edinburg Junior College Auditorium, a beautiful example of Gothic Revival architecture built way back in 1926. Designed by Giesecke and Harris, this building wasn't just for students. It served…
The Scandal That Renamed a Town · 0.4 mi
Edinburg began its life with a different, and much more scandalous, name: Chapin. It was named for Dennis B. Chapin, a key figure in its 1908 founding — he and his partners had wrestled the county seat away from the old…

Show all 200 nearby places

The Engineering of the Magic Valley · 0.4 mi
The lush fields and citrus groves you see around Edinburg look natural, but they are the result of a massive and sustained engineering project. A hundred years ago, this was semi-arid brushland. The transformation into…
The Courthouse That Citrus Built · 0.4 mi
If you get a chance to drive through downtown Edinburg, look for the old county courthouse on North Closner. It isn't the original - that was a frame building put up in 1908 when the county seat moved here. The Mission…
The Bandit War and 'The Matanza' · 0.4 mi
The early days of Edinburg were marked by a period of brutal violence. From about 1915 to 1920, as the Mexican Revolution raged to the south, the conflict spilled across the border. Raids by Mexican partisans on…
Emilia Schunior Ramirez · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Edinburg, and right here is the story of Emilia Schunior Ramirez. Born in Hidalgo County in 1902, Emilia became a beacon for Hispanic women in education. After graduating high school and marrying…
Trooper Moises Sanchez and Five Long Months · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
Interstate Sixty Nine C in Hidalgo County, between Farm to Market Road Nineteen Twenty Five and Trenton Road, is the Trooper Moises Sanchez Memorial Highway. Moises Sanchez was a United States Marine Corps veteran. He…
Restlawn Cemetery · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
This property is believed to be the only graveyard in Hidalgo County dedicated for African American burials. Prior to its founding in 1928, blacks were allowed burial space only in private ranch cemeteries. In the…
Cano, Pedro · 1.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Pedro Cano, World War II veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, was born in General Terán, Nuevo León, Mexico, on July 7, 1920. His mother, Nicolasa González Cano, and father, Secundio Cano, settled in Edinburg, Texas,…
Closner, John · 1.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
John Closner, Hidalgo County developer, the son of Swiss parents John and Elizabeth (Blumer) Closner, was born on March 24, 1853, in New Glaris, Wisconsin. The family moved to Minnesota and Iowa before moving to Texas…
De La Viña, Gustavo · 1.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Gustavo “Gus” de la Viña (Vina) was the first Mexican American to serve as chief of the United States Border Patrol . He worked to restrain the flow of illegal immigration into the U.S., initiated a proactive strategy…
Gonzalez, Alfredo Cantu · 1.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Edinburg, Texas, the hometown of Alfredo Cantu Gonzalez. He was a young Marine, just 21 years old, serving in Vietnam. On January 31st, 1968, during the battle for Hue City, his unit came under…
Longoria, Raul L. · 1.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through South Texas, the heart of the Rio Grande Valley, an area Raul L. Longoria dedicated his life to serving. Born in La Grulla in 1921, Longoria became an attorney and a champion for the civil and…
Baker, Anderson Yancey · 1.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hidalgo County, where A. Y. Baker once ruled as political boss. Back in 1903, Baker, then a Texas Ranger, found himself on trial for murder. He was accused in the deaths of Ramón de la Cerda and…
Museum of South Texas History · 1.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Edinburg, Texas, and right here is the Museum of South Texas History. Its cornerstone building? The old Hidalgo County jail, built in 1910. This town owes its existence to a county vote back in…
Edinburg, TX · 1.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Edinburg, Texas, a town with a name change that sounds like something out of a detective novel. It wasn't always called Edinburg. Originally named Chapin, after one of its promoters, the town's…
Hidalgo County Rebellion · 1.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
The Hidalgo County Rebellion was an early effort of farmers and middle-class business owners in the Rio Grande valley to organize against boss rule . Anderson Y. Baker , who had been supported by James B. Wells 's…
Edwards, James Henry · 1.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hidalgo County, where James H. Edwards spent years clearing land titles. He was instrumental in securing data from old records and early settlers, even traveling into Mexico in 1905 to search…
Richard Alvis Marsh · 1.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Edinburg, and right about here is where Richard Alvis Marsh dedicated his life to education. Born in Kentucky, Marsh had a military and journalism career before coming to Texas. He arrived in San…
Brushwood Cemetery · 1.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Brushwood Cemetery, a final resting place that tells the story of Edinburg's diverse beginnings. Established in 1913 as the town's municipal burial ground, its roots actually go back further. Some…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Vela (Edinburg) · 1.9 mi
Vela (Edinburg, TX) placed on the 5A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Jason Alaniz (4 HR).
Trooper Moises Sanchez Memorial Boulevard · 2.7 mi · Historical Marker
Honors TX DPS Trooper Moises Sanchez, shot April 6, 2019, while approaching a crash scene in Edinburg; died August 24, 2019, after 5 months of surgeries. Honorary segment on SH-107 (Monte Cristo Rd) in Edinburg.
César Chávez, TX · 3.0 mi
César Chávez, located in Hidalgo County, Texas, was first recognized as a census-designated place in the 2000 U.S. census. The community's population has grown since then, reaching 1,608 residents in the 2020 census.…
Nurillo, TX · 3.5 mi
Murillo, once known as Nurillo, has seen significant changes over the years. In 2013, the City of Edinburg annexed about 2,000 acres of land, reducing Murillo's size as recorded in the 2020 U.S. census. This event…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Economedes (Edinburg) · 3.6 mi
Economedes (Edinburg, TX) placed on the 6A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Rene Rios (2 HR).
Floyd H. (Slats) Rodgers · 3.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past McAllen, where Floyd "Slats" Rodgers made his home for years. This daring stunt pilot started with kites, built his first plane in 1912, and flew surplus World War I aircraft. Slats barnstormed,…
Lopezville, TX · 4.4 mi
Lopezville, Texas, is named in honor of Francisco Solano López, a former president of Paraguay. The town's namesake is a descendant of López who founded a trailer park in the area, which eventually developed into the…
PeÃ±itas Cemetery · 4.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Peñitas Cemetery, established way back in 1836. It served the early settlers of this historic area, with the earliest documented burial in 1894. Look for tombstones, crosses, and statues marking…
Muniz, TX · 5.5 mi
Muniz, a small community in Texas, first appeared on the map during the 2000 U.S. census, marking its official recognition. Over the years, it has grown from a population of 1,106 in 2000 to 1,593 by 2020. Despite its…
San Carlos, TX · 5.7 mi
San Carlos is located in Hidalgo County, Texas, and is part of the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area. It's situated northeast of McAllen and five miles east of Edinburg on State Highway 107. The…
Citrus Fruit Culture · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the heart of Texas citrus country. Believe it or not, growing oranges and grapefruit here started way back in the 1700s with just seven trees planted by Spaniards near present-day Edinburg. By…
McAllen Ranch · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hidalgo County, deep in the Rio Grande Valley, on land that's been a working cattle ranch for over two centuries. This is the McAllen Ranch, but its story starts way back in 1790 with José Manuel…
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hidalgo County, just south of Alamo, and you're passing through a place that's a true Texas treasure: the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. This 2,080-acre preserve protects a rare piece of…
Shary, John Harry · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the Rio Grande Valley, and right here is the land that John Harry Shary transformed. Born in Nebraska, Shary came to Texas in the early 1900s, first developing land near Corpus Christi. But it was…
Penitas, TX · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Peñitas is off Farm Road 1427 ten miles northwest of McAllen in southwestern Hidalgo County. According to local tradition it was established by a splinter group of survivors of the Pánfilo de Narváez expedition of 1520,…
Rio Rico, TX · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Río Rico, located on the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County, was separated from Texas by a "meander cut" in violation of the treaty between Mexico and the United States. The community was originally located north of the Rio…
Anaya, Carmen Rodríguez · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hidalgo County, and right here, in communities like Las Milpas, Carmen Rodríguez Anaya saw a problem and decided to fix it. After losing her family farm and working for years as a migrant worker,…
Arroyo Colorado · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the Rio Grande Valley, and right here, along the banks of the Arroyo Colorado, history was made. On March 20, <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as>, this very spot saw the first…
La Sal del Rey · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hidalgo County, not far from Linn, and right here is La Sal del Rey, the King's Salt Lake. Spanish explorers claimed this salt lake for Spain, and for centuries, it was a vital source of this…
Run, TX · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Run (Runn) is on U.S. Highway 281 seven miles south of Donna in Hidalgo County. In 1898 A. F. Hester and Tom J. Hooks, who were rice growing partners in the Beaumont region, bought options on 13,000 acres of the…
Stockholm, TX · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Stockholm was on Farm Road 491 four miles southeast of Delta Lake in east Hidalgo County. It was settled by Swedish immigrants from several states and Canada about 1912. The rich dark sandy loam with clay subsoil was…
Hidalgo County · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hidalgo County, a place with roots stretching back to Spanish colonization. In the <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1740s</say-as>, Spanish colonizers were tasked with settling this land…
Llano Grande Lake · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hidalgo County, not far from Weslaco, and you're passing over a place with a history stretching back to Spanish Texas. This is Llano Grande Lake, part of the Rio Grande delta drainage. In <say-as…
La Trinidad United Methodist Church of Pharr · 6.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of La Trinidad United Methodist Church in Pharr. Organized back in 1913, this church holds the distinction of being the second oldest in Pharr and was the very first to serve the city's…
Monte Christo, TX · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Monte Christo (also Monte Cristo) was seventeen miles northwest of McAllen in west central Hidalgo County. It was founded in 1909 by the Melado Land Company of Houston and was managed by Marshall McIlhenny, who had a…
Delta Lake · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hidalgo County, and right here, you're passing Delta Lake. Originally built in 1939 as the Monte Alto Reservoir, it was designed to store water diverted from the Rio Grande for irrigation. For…
Lake Tampacuas · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hidalgo County, near Mercedes, where you might find Lake Tampacuas. This lake, also known as Carter's Lake, is a remnant of a once-thriving delta ecosystem. Its name comes from the Coahuiltecan…
Sam Fordyce, TX · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Sam Fordyce (Samfordyce) was ten miles west of Mission in southwest Hidalgo County. It was formed at the western end of the Sam Fordyce branch of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway after its construction in…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Pioneer (Mission) · 6.7 mi
Pioneer (Mission, TX) placed on the 5A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Sean Lara (4 HR); Angel Ruiz (3 HR).
Saint Paul Lutheran Church · 6.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Saint Paul Lutheran Church. Organized in Pharr in 1916, the congregation moved to McAllen in 1917. They purchased their own building in 1919 and later built a new sanctuary and school on…
The Day a Plane Hit the Church · 6.8 mi
On October 23, 1970, the community of San Juan experienced a moment of terror and a miracle. A low-flying private plane, piloted by a former schoolteacher named Francis B. Alexander, circled the Shrine of Our Lady of…
Cristela Alonzo's Abandoned Diner · 6.8 mi
The comedian Cristela Alonzo, who brought the Rio Grande Valley to network television, has a story that is deeply rooted in San Juan. For part of her childhood, she, her mother, and her siblings were homeless and lived…
John Closner's canals for Hidalgo County · 6.8 mi
The reason San Juan exists is a story of massive engineering. A little over a century ago, this was all thorny brushland, deemed useless because of the lack of rain. The STEM solution was to harness the Rio Grande.…
The Tri-City School District · 6.8 mi
You can't talk about San Juan without talking about its neighbors, Pharr and Alamo. The three towns are so intertwined that they share a single, massive school district: the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School…
San Antonio and Rio Grande Railway; "Old Flossie" · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through San Juan, Hidalgo County, where a little railroad nicknamed 'Old Flossie' once chugged along. The San Antonio and Rio Grande Railway started operations back in 1909, bringing vital freight and…
Guadalupe Cemetery · 7.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Pharr, and just ahead is Guadalupe Cemetery. Established in 1913, it was the public burial ground for this growing community, especially for Mexican immigrants and Anglo American settlers who had…
The Highway Name That Took Seventy Years to Make Legal · 7.3 mi
Every mile of U S Highway Two Eighty One inside Texas is the American Legion Memorial Highway, and the name is much older than the law behind it. On April thirtieth, nineteen thirty five, the Texas Highway Commission…
Buell School · 7.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Buell School in Pharr, a building that opened its doors in 1927. <break time="400ms"/> It was built specifically to serve Mexican-American children in the local school district, replacing an…
Ortiz, Tomás · 7.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through South Texas, maybe near McAllen, and right here is where a musical legend got his start. Tomás Ortiz, one half of the iconic norteño duo Los Alegres de Terán, launched his international career…
Casso, Ramiro Raúl · 7.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Ramiro Raúl Casso, an educator, physician, civil rights and community activist from the Rio Grande Valley, was born in the Buenos Aires colonia of Laredo, Texas, on August 4, 1922, to Francisco Margarito Casso and…
Garcia, Esteban · 7.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Esteban Garcia, South Texas rancher and cattle breeder, was born on December 2, 1896, in Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, the eldest of thirteen children of Amancio Garcia and Braulia de la Garza. The Garcia family had…
Balli Tijerina, Carlos Manuel · 7.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McAllen right now, and you're passing by the legacy of Dr. Carlos Manuel Ballí Tijerina. He arrived here in 1918, during the chaos of the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Flu pandemic. Dr. Ballí…
Cuesta, Henry Falcón · 7.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through South Texas, maybe near McAllen, where Henry Cuesta was born. He became a world-famous clarinetist, but you might know him best from his decade with the Lawrence Welk Orchestra. Welk himself told…
Zakary Thaks · 7.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're cruising through South Texas, and right here, you might have passed the birthplace of a legendary 1960s Texas rock band: Zakary Thaks. Formed by five Corpus Christi teenagers in 1966, they adopted the name…
Dean, Jack O'Day · 7.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through South Texas, and right here, Jack O'Day Dean made his mark as a Texas Ranger. He arrived in McAllen in 1970, a time of unrest. Rioters and striking workers were overwhelming local police, but…
Old Pharr City Hall · 7.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Pharr, and right here is the Old Pharr City Hall, built way back in 1911. This wasn't just a building; it was the heart of the new town. It housed the first bank, the post office, a drugstore, and…
St. John the Baptist Catholic Church · 7.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in San Juan. It began as a small chapel built in 1925 by Father Alphonse Jalbert. The community grew, and in 1970, a devastating plane crash and fire…
McAllen, TX · 7.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McAllen, a city that owes its existence to a railroad and a family legacy. It all started in 1904 when the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway reached the sprawling McAllen Ranch. John…
Smith, Brooks · 7.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McAllen, Texas, the hometown of Brooks Smith, a classical piano accompanist who made a name for himself by supporting other musicians. Born in 1912, Smith had a passion for chamber music and the…
First Pharr-San Juan-Alamo School · 7.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Pharr, and right here is the site of the very first school serving three communities: Pharr, San Juan, and Alamo. Construction started in 1915, and it opened its doors for the 1916 school year…
Lamar Junior High School · 7.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Lamar Junior High School in McAllen. Authorized by the school board in 1938, this campus was designed by architect Marion Lee Waller. Before air conditioning, classrooms here opened onto…
Kiwanis Club of Pharr · 7.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of the Kiwanis Club of Pharr, a building with a unique claim to fame. Built in 1928, this Mission-style structure was the very first meeting place owned by a local Kiwanis club…
The Library Inside a Walmart · 7.5 mi
What do you do with a giant, empty Walmart? In most cities, it might sit vacant for years. But in McAllen, they turned it into a library. In 2011, the city purchased a 123,000-square-foot former 'big box' store and…
The Adobe Mansion in the Palms · 7.5 mi
As you explore McAllen, you might not expect to find a 10,000-square-foot Spanish Revival adobe mansion. But that's exactly what Quinta Mazatlan is — built in 1935, and believed to be the largest adobe structure in…
The Accidental Treasure in the Orchard · 7.5 mi
The Rio Grande Valley is famous for grapefruit, and that fame is largely thanks to a lucky accident of biology that happened right here in McAllen. In 1929, a citrus grower named A. E. Henninger was inspecting his…
Selling the 'Magic Valley' · 7.5 mi
In the early 1900s, McAllen and the surrounding area were sold as a dream. Developers bought huge tracts of thorny brushland, cleared it, and dug irrigation canals. Then, they launched a massive marketing campaign,…
John H. Shary Home · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Palmhurst, in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley. Look around – much of this landscape owes its existence to John H. Shary. Built in 1917, this home was the center of operations for the man often…
Tom Mayfield · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through San Juan, home of Tom Mayfield, a man who lived a life straight out of an adventure novel. Back in 1898, he left his farm to help buy horses for Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Later, he served as…
City of Pharr · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Pharr, the 'Hub City of the Valley.' Long before this town existed, nomadic tribes and Spanish explorers roamed this land. But the real story of Pharr begins in 1909, when John C. Kelly, Henry N.…
San Juan Hotel · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through San Juan, and right here is the site of the historic San Juan Hotel. Opened in 1920, this building was part of a big plan to make San Juan a major commercial hub in the Rio Grande Valley. It…
Sam and Marjorie Miller House · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McAllen, and just ahead is a house built by Sam and Marjorie Miller. Sam was a big deal here, involved in everything from nurseries to banking, and even co-owned the international bridge. Back in…
First Pharr School · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the very first school in Pharr! <break time="400ms"/> Built in 1911, this one-story building started with just nine students. <break time="400ms"/> But Pharr grew fast! <break…
San Juan Townsite · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through San Juan, a town that got its start in 1910 when entrepreneur John Closner sold over 400 acres for the San Juan Townsite Company. Closner's name lives on in the town's name, and the railroad…
Pharr Volunteer Fire Department · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Pharr, where a devastating fire in 1916 wiped out an entire downtown block, taking businesses like the Pharr Lumber Co. and the National Theatre with it. But out of that loss, something new…
San Juan, TX · 7.8 mi
The Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle stands as a prominent landmark in San Juan, Texas. It is one of the largest churches in South Texas and a significant religious site for the…
San Juan Plantation · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hidalgo County, and right here is the site of the San Juan Plantation. Back in the late 1800s, this area was mostly just grazing land. But John Closner, a lawman turned agricultural pioneer, saw…
Virgen de San Juan del Valle Shrine · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hidalgo County, and right here in San Juan, you're passing the site of a remarkable place of pilgrimage: the Virgen de San Juan del Valle Shrine. It began in 1949 when Father Joseph Azpiazu…
San Juan, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through San Juan, Texas, a community with roots stretching back to Spanish land grants in the 1700s. But in 1970, this town made international headlines for a shocking act of violence. On October 23rd, a…
United Farm Workers Union · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through South Texas, maybe near Starr County, and you might be passing by the town of San Juan. Right here, in 1966, farmworkers launched a strike, demanding better pay. The United Farm Workers union, or…
Nuestra Clinica del Valle · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the Rio Grande Valley, and right here, in communities like San Juan, you're passing the network of Nuestra Clinica del Valle. Established back in 1971, it began as a small program to help migrant…
Percy Herman House · 7.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Percy Herman House, built in 1933. Percy Herman, a major influence in McAllen's development, was one of the first Jewish families in town. He hired Edwin W. Byers, known for designing buildings…
McAllen Lodge No. 1110, A. F. and A. M. · 7.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McAllen, passing the site of the McAllen Lodge No. 1110, chartered in 1915. Meetings were held in early downtown buildings before the lodge built its own temple here in 1927. The lodge continues…
Paris Gum Factory · 7.9 mi · Historical Marker
Hey road trippers, keep an eye out for a piece of bubble gum history! During World War II, Andrew J. Paris was struggling to keep his Detroit tobacco shop stocked with sweets. In 1942, he found a solution south of the…
McAllen First Methodist Church · 7.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McAllen, where Methodists have been gathering since circuit riders first served the Rio Grande Valley back in 1849. The first church building here was constructed in 1909, with a larger one…
McAllen, TX · 8.0 mi
The Rio Grande Valley has always been a crossroads, but the influx of asylum seekers in recent years has really put McAllen in the national spotlight. The city, sitting just north of the border, became a focal point as…
Grupo Frontera · 8.0 mi
Two years. That's about how long it took Grupo Frontera to go from a local Edinburg act to trading songs with Bad Bunny. This six-piece formed right here in Edinburg back in 2022, taking the old norteno cumbia — the…
Edgar Barrera · 8.0 mi
You've heard Edgar Barrera's work even if you've never heard his name — the McAllen kid grew up to write and produce for Madonna, Shakira, Maluma, Selena Gomez, a shelf full of Grammys. But here's my favorite thing he…
Hillbilly's honky-tonk · 8.0 mi
Up in north McAllen, deep in the Rio Grande Valley, there's a small building with red-and-black trim called Hillbilly's — "Hills," if you're a regular. Two brothers, Reynaldo and Enrique Martinez, opened it back in…
La Lomita Park · 8.0 mi
In North McAllen, a man named Jose "Pepe" Maldonado had a recording studio called El Rancho Sound. Then he shut it down for about ten years. When he came back, he turned the place into something else — La Lomita Park,…
MXLAN festival · 8.0 mi
Down in McAllen, the city throws a party every year and calls it MXLAN — three days of the Valley's Latino culture turned all the way up. It started in 2019, built to knit the Valley and Mexico a little closer together.…
One Branch Made Every Ruby Red · 8.0 mi
Every red grapefruit you've ever had traces back to one tree limb in a McAllen grove. In 1929, a grower named A.E. Henninger noticed a single branch on an ordinary pink grapefruit tree producing fruit with flesh far…
The South Texas Weekend Barbacoa Ritual · 8.0 mi · Cultural Tradition
In South Texas, weekend mornings belong to barbacoa. Saturdays and Sundays, the line forms before the sun is fully up — at meat markets, taquerias, and family-run carnicerias from the Rio Grande Valley up through…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Rowe (McAllen) · 8.0 mi
Rowe (McAllen, TX) placed on the 5A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Alex Leon (0.509 avg, 3 HR).
Casa de Palmas · 8.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of McAllen's first major hotel, the Casa de Palmas. Before this grand, three-story building with its red tile roof and twin towers went up in 1918, this was just a city park, home to…
La Lechuza · 8.0 mi · Things to Do
In the Rio Grande Valley a giant owl-witch called La Lechuza hunts at night. She is said to be the ghost of a mother whose children were killed by a drunk…
Archer Park · 8.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McAllen, and right here is Archer Park, a green space that's been part of the city's story since its early days. <break time="400ms"/> This one-block square was gifted to McAllen in 1917 by Mayor…
Site of Casa de Palmas · 8.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through McAllen, a town that really took off after the railroad arrived in 1905. Irrigation turned the land into a vegetable farming powerhouse, and soon, this place had all the essentials: a hotel, a…
First Presbyterian Church of McAllen · 8.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McAllen, and right here is the site of the First Presbyterian Church. It started in 1908 with the very first Presbyterian worship service in town, held in a lumberyard! Even though the Mexican…
Camp Ebenezer · 8.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hidalgo County, near Alamo. Look around you — this area was once known as Camp Ebenezer. Back in 1902, Peter Blalock and George Hawkins bought a massive 32,000 acres here. By 1908, they’d built…
The Jewel of the Refuge System · 8.2 mi
Just south of Alamo lies a place so special it’s called 'the jewel of the National Wildlife Refuge System.' This is the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, a 2,000-acre sanctuary protecting one of the last remnants of…
La Pulga: The Heartbeat of the Weekend · 8.2 mi
If you're in Alamo on a weekend, you can feel the energy coming from one place in particular: the Alamo Flea Market, the Pulga de Alamo, known to everyone as 'la pulga.' It's the largest flea market in the Rio Grande…
Sold to settlers as an agricultural paradise · 8.2 mi
As you look at the green fields and citrus groves around Alamo, it’s hard to imagine this was once arid, thorny brushland that received less than 25 inches of rain a year. The transformation into the 'Magic Valley'…
The High School That Ran a Railroad · 8.2 mi
For a while in the 1960s, the strangest thing in the Rio Grande Valley sat on Alamo Road just north of town, and it ran on steam. A crop-duster named Tommy Tompkins built the Live Steam Museum here, and its centerpiece…
The Town the Train Built and Left Behind · 8.2 mi
Look over at the railroad tracks cutting through the fields here. That's where Alma started. Settlers were on this ground by the early 1840s — Thomas Smith bought a thousand acres beside a lake called Willow Pond, and a…
The Interstate's Shadow · 8.2 mi
As you travel Interstate 45, you're on a piece of mid-century engineering built for one purpose: moving people and freight between Houston and Dallas as fast as possible. Wide lanes, gentle curves, controlled access,…
Trooper Ernesto Alanis Memorial Highway · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
Honors TX DPS Trooper Ernesto Alanis, killed February 27, 1983, when struck by a drunk driver during a traffic stop on Expressway 83 (now I-2) through McAllen.
D. Guerra & Sons Store · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of D. Guerra and Sons Store, a business that served McAllen for over fifty years. Brothers Enrique and Modesto Guerra started a grocery here in 1908, with their father Diódoro joining them…
When the Schoolhouse Door Closed · 8.2 mi
In a small rural town, the school is more than just a place for learning; it's the heart of the community. It's where you have basketball games, town meetings, and Christmas pageants. For decades the Alma school served…
McAllen Post Office · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the old McAllen Post Office, built back in 1935. It served as the town's postal hub for over twenty years, until 1957. Since then, this Spanish Colonial Revival building, with its distinctive baroque…
Sacred Heart Catholic Church · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Priests from La Lomita Chapel in nearby Mission ministered to Catholics at McAllen from 1908 until 1911, when a mission was begun here and a wood frame chapel was built.…
Campsite of "The Fighting 69th" · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the historic campsite of New York's famed "Fighting 69th" Infantry Regiment. Back in 1916 and 1917, these soldiers weren't fighting in Europe, but right here in McAllen, guarding the border. Their…
Southern Pacific Depot · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former Southern Pacific Depot in McAllen. Opened in August 1927, this beautiful Spanish Colonial Revival building was designed by railroad architect Leonard B. McCoy. It welcomed passengers…
McAllen Hospital · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old McAllen Hospital, a place that saw this city grow from its very beginnings. The first doctor, J.B.F. McMillan, arrived way back in 1906. Then, in 1918, Dr. Frank Osborn built a…
First Baptist Church of Pharr · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Pharr. It was established in 1913 by seven charter members, with Rev. A. J. Seale as the first pastor. Early services were in a school building until their…
Bronco 956, La Barbie, and El Caballito 956 (viral pulga dancers) · 8.5 mi
Out at the Pulga de Alamo, the flea-market floor turned into a stage. It started with Jose Urbina Rios — a construction worker who, sometime in 2023, went viral for the way he moved at the Valley pulgas. They call him…
Pulga de Alamo (Mercadome flea market) · 8.5 mi
Fifty cents gets you into the Pulga in Alamo, down in Hidalgo County — officially the Mercadome, but nobody calls it that. It's acres of covered stalls, two warehouses, four parking lots, all cash, no cards. You can buy…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Pharr-San Juan-Alamo (San Juan) · 8.5 mi
Pharr-San Juan-Alamo (San Juan, TX) placed on the 6A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: JT Reyna (0.500 avg); TJ Ayala (0.451 avg, 3 HR); James Cansino (0.432 avg, 2 HR).
Alamo, TX · 8.5 mi
Alamo, Texas, smells like sunshine and blossoms for a good part of the year, thanks to the citrus groves that define our landscape. You can't drive far in any direction without seeing rows and rows of orange and…
M. & J. Nelson Building · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through McAllen, and you might catch a glimpse of a real architectural gem. This is the M. & J. Nelson Building, designed back in 1949. Morris Randall Nelson, a carpenter turned builder and entrepreneur,…
The Night Pharr Erupted: The Riot of '71 · 8.7 mi
Right by Pharr’s police station, a pivotal moment in the Texas civil rights struggle took place. On the morning of February 6, 1971, a few hundred Mexican Americans set out to protest what they saw as years of police…
The Bridge That Feeds America · 8.7 mi
The most important piece of technology in Pharr isn't in a lab; it's the international bridge connecting the city to Reynosa, Mexico. This isn't just a simple span of concrete and steel; it's a highly engineered…
Pharr, TX · 8.7 mi
Before Pharr was Pharr, it was just part of the vast, flat landscape of South Texas, land the Coahuiltecan people knew well long before anyone dreamed of railroads or citrus groves. The Rio Grande, a constant presence…
Jiménez, Abelardo [Cha Cha] · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through South Texas, and right here in Alamo, lived Abelardo 'Cha Cha' Jiménez. He was a Tejano music star, a gifted vocalist and instrumentalist. But before his music career took off, Cha Cha served two…
Bessie · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the site where a steamboat named Bessie once plied the Rio Grande. This wasn't just any boat; it was the last of a famous shipping fleet, and instead of a whistle, it carried a massive 400-pound…
Sain Joseph Catholic Church · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Alamo. Built in 1924, this Gothic revival building was completed the same year Alamo was incorporated. The parish became independent in 1927, and the church has since…
Roselawn Cemetery · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Roselawn Cemetery. In 1908, just one year after McAllen began to develop, a group of residents established this cemetery on land donated by the Hidalgo Canal Company. The oldest marked grave here…
Alamo, TX · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through the Rio Grande Valley, and right here is Alamo. This town started as a massive land deal in the early 1900s. Peter Blalock and George Hawkins bought up over 32,000 acres, laying out a townsite…
Train-Truck Collision · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Alamo, Hidalgo County, where on March 14, 1940, a devastating accident unfolded at this very rail crossing. A Missouri Pacific train slammed into a truck carrying over 40 agricultural workers. In a…
Bethel Baptist Church · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McAllen, and right here is the site of Bethel Baptist Church. In 1936, Eugene and Georgia Hubbard founded Little Bethel Baptist Church for African Americans in town, holding services without…
West Texas, TX · 9.0 mi
West Texas isn't just tumbleweeds and oil derricks, though we've got our fair share of both. What folks sometimes miss is the deep current of Mexican culture that runs through everything. Start with the names: towns…
Trooper Ernesto Alanis Memorial Highway · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
Interstate Two through McAllen is named for Trooper Ernesto Alanis. On the twenty seventh of February, nineteen eighty three, Alanis and his partner had stopped a motorist near McAllen, and as they talked with the…
Alton, TX (Hidalgo County) · 9.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Alton, a community that started as a simple stop on a railway line back in 1911. But Alton is forever marked by a terrible tragedy that happened right here on September 21, 1989. At 7:30 in the…
Alton, TX (Denton County) · 9.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Denton County, and right here, you're passing by the ghost of Alton. Established by the Texas legislature in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1848</say-as>, Alton was meant to be the county…
The Day the Music Stopped: The 1989 Bus Tragedy · 9.3 mi
On the morning of September 21, 1989, a Mission school bus carrying 80 students from Alton and nearby Mission made a stop at the corner of Bryan Road and Mile 5. It was a routine morning. But as the bus pulled out, a…
The Accidental Suburb · 9.3 mi
For most of the 20th century, Alton didn't even want to be a city. It was a loose collection of farms and homes, perfectly happy being an unincorporated area of Hidalgo County. Several attempts to incorporate failed.…
Quinta Mazatlan_Home of Jason Matthews · 9.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through McAllen, and you're passing Quinta Mazatlan, the home of Jason Matthews. Built in the late 1930s, this was one of the largest adobe homes in Texas, with blocks made right here on site. Matthews…
Monte Christo · 9.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Monte Christo, a town that boomed and busted in the Rio Grande Valley. Platted in 1909 by the Melado Land Company, it was meant to be a thriving community. By its peak, Monte Christo…
La Piedad Cemetery · 9.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past La Piedad Cemetery, a burial ground that actually predates the city of McAllen itself. It likely started as a small ranch cemetery in the late 1800s, with the earliest known burial being Gertrudis…
Asociacion del Cementerio La Piedad · 9.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of La Piedad Cemetery, established in 1895. This association marks its founding, and the cemetery was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2005.
Home of William Jennings Bryan · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Mission, and just off the road is the property where William Jennings Bryan, a towering figure in American politics and a three-time presidential candidate, lived for a time. From <say-as…
Pharr, TX · 9.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Pharr, Texas, a town born from a sugarcane dream. In 1909, Louisiana investor Henry N. Pharr teamed up with John Connally Kelley, Sr., to buy 16,000 acres right here along the Rio Grande. Pharr…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Sharyland (Mission) · 9.8 mi
Sharyland (Mission, TX) placed on the 5A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Nic Valdez (0.486 avg, 2 HR); Luis Cienfuegos (3 HR).
Texas HS Baseball Playoff Leaders 2026: Sharyland (Mission) · 9.8 mi
Sharyland (Mission) put 4 players on the statewide leaderboards of the 2026 Texas high school baseball playoffs. Nic Valdez had 17 hits (8th in the state), and 15 runs (17th in the state). Luis Balderas had 17 hits (8th…
Texas HS Baseball Playoff Hits 2026: Sharyland (Mission) · 9.8 mi
Sharyland (Mission), TX placed on the Texas high school baseball PLAYOFF HITS leaderboard for the 2026 postseason: Nic Valdez (17 hits, #8 in TX); Luis Balderas (17 hits, #8 in TX); Santiago Soto (16 hits, #15 in TX).
Engineering the Groves: Making the Desert Bloom · 10.0 mi
Look at the green landscape around Palmhurst. None of it would be here without a massive feat of early twentieth-century engineering. The soil was fertile, but the climate is semi-arid. The solution was irrigation on an…
The Winter Garden Dream · 10.0 mi
Imagine it's 1912. You're a farmer in Iowa, sick of the snow, and a brochure lands in your hands promising a frost-free paradise down on the Rio Grande - the Magic Valley, they'd started calling it, a phrase a railroad…
Palmhurst, TX · 10.0 mi
Palmhurst, a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, has a history that began with its incorporation in 1966. Over the past decade, the city has undergone a significant transformation, losing nearly half its population as many…
A Vote to Become a City · 10.0 mi
For over 50 years, Palmhurst was just a collection of farms without a formal government. It was 'unincorporated.' But by the 1960s, things were changing. The neighboring cities of McAllen and Mission were growing fast,…
Alamo's Navy Man Turned Mayor · 10.0 mi
Farm to Market Road Nine Oh Seven, known as Alamo Road, from Military Highway to Owassa Road, is Rudy Villarreal Road. Rudy Villarreal was born in Alamo in nineteen thirty four, and according to the bill that named this…
How the Purple Heart Trail Grew Across Texas · 10.3 mi
This highway is part of the Purple Heart Trail, a symbolic trail that runs through all fifty states to honor those killed or wounded in combat while serving in the armed forces. In Texas it started with one road. In two…
West Sharyland, TX · 10.4 mi
West Sharyland is a census-designated place in Hidalgo County, Texas. Covering 2.3 square miles of land, it's part of the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metropolitan area, with some unincorporated portions lying within…
Jordan, Esteban [Steve] · 10.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Elsa, Texas, the birthplace of Esteban "Steve" Jordan, born right here in 1939. He was blinded in one eye at birth, but that didn't stop him from becoming a legendary conjunto accordionist. Jordan…
Llano Grande Center for Research and Development · 10.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Elsa, in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley. Right here is the Llano Grande Center, a nonprofit that started in the early 90s as a college prep program at Edcouch Elsa High School. Founded by…
Elsa, TX · 10.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Elsa, a town that owes its existence to a railroad and a landowner's wife. The land here was settled by ranchers long before 1800, but it wasn't until 1927 that the Texas and New Orleans Railroad…
The 1968 Student Walkout · 10.6 mi
The campus of Edcouch-Elsa High School, just down the road, was the site of a pivotal moment in the Chicano movement. On November 14, 1968, between a hundred and fifty and two hundred Mexican-American students walked…
La Máquina Amarilla · 10.6 mi
If you're here on a Friday night in the fall, you'll feel the whole town's energy focused on one thing: high school football. The local team is the Edcouch-Elsa High School Yellowjackets, but they're known throughout…
Engineering a Garden · 10.6 mi
The reason a town like Elsa even exists is thanks to a massive feat of engineering that transformed this entire landscape. A century ago, this was semi-arid brushland, covered in mesquite and cactus. The soil was…
Elsa, TX · 10.6 mi
Elsa, Texas, was settled as ranch land before 1800. Anglo-Americans began settling in the area in the early 1900s. The town was laid out with the coming of the Texas and New Orleans Railroad in 1927 and was incorporated…
Donna Central Elementary School · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the oldest building in the Donna Independent School District. Donna Central Elementary School was built in 1925 after a special bond election. It served as an elementary school for decades, but from…
Texas Citrus Fiesta · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Mission, the heart of the Rio Grande Valley's citrus country! Back in the 1930s, folks here wanted to show off their amazing citrus crops. So, in 1932, they threw the very first Texas Citrus…
Speer Memorial Library · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Mission, where the story of this library began way back in 1910 with the Tuesday Club. Just four years later, they formed the Civic League to care for a park and, get this, start a library! It…
Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McAllen, past the site of the Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School. Established in 1904 as a common school, this campus was built specifically for the Hispanic population and opened its doors in…
First Presbyterian Church of Mission · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Presbyterian Church of Mission. Dr. Samuel McPheeters Glasgow gave the first sermon here in 1909 and organized a Sunday school. He and Dr. M.W. Doggett officially founded the…
Donna · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Donna, a city that owes its start to two East Texas entrepreneurs. In the late 1890s, T. J. Hooks and A. F. Hester saw potential in this South Texas land. They formed the La Blanca Agricultural…
P.P. Ackley and the Texas Chisholm Trail · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past P.P. Ackley and the Texas Chisholm Trail. Illinois native Peter Preston Ackley (1858-1940) moved to Texas as a boy. He went on several trail drives in 1870s and 1880s, bringing from cattle Texas,…
The Donna News · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Donna News, a newspaper that served this Rio Grande Valley community for over fifty years. It all started back in 1904 when railroad president Uriah Lott named two towns after his…
American Legion Hall · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the American Legion Hall in Donna. This building, dedicated in 1920, holds a unique place in history. It was the very first American Legion Hall ever built or owned by any post in the…
Gregg Wood Home · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the David Gregg Wood Home, a landmark in Mission. Wood arrived in the Valley back in 1893, eventually settling here in 1908. He became a key figure, serving as mayor, city commissioner, and even…
Oblate Park · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Oblate Park in Mission, a public space with a unique origin story. Back in 1916, the city leased this land for 99 years from the Missionary Society of Oblate Fathers, a group of Catholic priests who…
Water lifted from the Rio Grande · 11.5 mi
As you look at the lush fields around Donna, remember that this is an engineered landscape. In the early 20th century, this was semi-arid brushland that received only about 25 inches of rain a year—not nearly enough for…
The Bridge to the Future · 11.5 mi
For most of its history, Donna's main connection was the railroad running east and west. But on December 14, 2010, the city opened a new connection running north and south: the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge,…
Donna, TX · 11.5 mi
Donna, Texas. It's a name that rolls off the tongue easily, but behind it lies a story rooted in the land and the people who shaped it. The town owes its name to Donna Hooks Fletcher, a prominent landowner in the early…
Moore Field · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Moore Field, a vital part of America's WWII effort right here in Texas. This aviation training ground got its start in 1941, financed by the neighboring cities of Edinburg, McAllen, and…
La Huelga: The Melon Strike of 1966 · 11.6 mi
As you drive these flat roads, picture the summer of 1966, when farmworkers across the Valley walked off the job. The strike itself broke out about sixty miles west of here, in the melon fields of Starr County, where…
Canals as wide as small rivers · 11.6 mi
The green fields surrounding Edcouch look natural, but they are a massive engineering achievement. This area, known as the 'Magic Valley,' wasn't always so lush. It's a semi-arid region that receives only about 20…
The Black Hole: Home of the Yellowjackets · 11.6 mi
If you’re in town on a Friday night in the fall, you’ll feel a shift in the energy. That’s because of the Edcouch-Elsa Yellowjackets, one of the most legendary high school football programs in South Texas. Their home…
Shary Building · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Shary Building in Mission, a testament to the Texas citrus industry. Designed by architect Harvey P. Smith, this two-story Spanish Colonial Revival gem was built in just 150 days, finishing in…
Mission, TX · 11.7 mi
Mission is a community in Texas.
Border Theater · 11.7 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine catching the latest flick at a theater that's been around since World War II! That's the Border Theater in Mission, Texas. Built in 1942 by Robert N. and Dell Smith, it quickly became the flagship movie house…
The Border Theater · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Border Theater, a classic mid-20th century movie house completed in 1942. Designed by Dallas architect William J. Moore, it could seat 740 patrons. Though it's seen some exterior changes, the…

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